What have we here? [All italicized text is from promotional literature unless otherwise noted.]Premise:All audio signals contain hidden and buried information lost in space and time. Hence such signals have been rendered incomplete. At best we may hear a hemisphere of sound. The present invention provides a complete sphere-o-sound signal, which is like sound as it is rendered in nature. The conventional audio signal path consists of three fundamental stages: capture, storage and playback. As simple and elegant as we would like these stages to be, at present and since the birth of audio electronics, information is missing when playback is compared with the original sound content. Hence an additional fundamental stage is both missing and required in order to provide a complete audio signal: the signal completion stage.

It is clear that phase is the fundamental element in the physical processing of sound. bsg technologies, through our understanding of the importance of phase, has developed an approach for revealing content buried within all recorded signals from a perspective that does not alter the signal through processing but rather simply opens the signal in a manner that is independent of the listening space – a technique which, in contrast to prior audio technologies, is not at odds with the way our brain interprets the sound heard within an acoustic space. This physical approach to audio can be implemented through analog or digital methods, thereby completing the audio signal and providing a round as opposed to flat experience. No longer is the listener confined to the 'sweet spot' for stereo recordings. No longer does a monophonic recording sound 'hollow' or one-dimensional.
Relative phase is the key to sound and our understanding and experience of an acoustic space. bsg technologies has capitalized on this understanding to provide a complete audio signal from traditional recordings made in monophonic, stereophonic and beyond – elegantly simple yet infinitely rich.

Sounds cool, huh? Actually the fundamental technology driven by bsg technologies’ understanding of physical acoustics is qøl™ (pronounced "coal"). qøl is derived from Hebrew and ancient Aramaic. It is a word that means all, everything and sound. qøl represents a complete audio signal. The complete audio signal affects everything in space and time captured through measurements and reproduction of magnitude, frequency and phase. Unlike signal effects processors, which add and/or subtract information from a signal, qøl simply opens up the signal revealing what’s already locked away inside all audio signals.

Applications. While qøl™ is the driving force for the all-analog device under review today, it is also available to licensees in both digital and analog formats. The technology is reported to require little processing power, to use relatively little electricity and to be adaptable for every product that carries audio signals—monaural, stereo or multi-channel—from cell phones, MP3 players, headphones, home and automobile audio/video equipment to large public address systems. If this technology could trickle down (into a preamp, say) and eliminate the need for another expensive separate audiophile component, I’d say bravo. In its current iteration I can’t say it’s a bargain though others will—and rightfully so for them—think that it is.

Though the technology is said to be available in a digital format (which presumably will require little processing power and be adaptable to very small devices such as cell phones), today’s all-analog device is by no means small. It's 17 x 13 x 3.3" WxDxH and weighs 17 pounds. A peek inside suggests considerable signal routing what with the plethora of Burr-Brown op amps (whose high feedback might presumably provide its own phase augmentation) and Omron relays.

It is an addition to existing systems, not a replacement of any equipment. Built to the highest standards*of audiophiles and music lovers, with features that make it versatile and compatible with all components, cables and systems. A huge step toward realism, naturalism and enjoyment, our patent-pending qøl™ technology is the most significant advance in audio in decades. For the first time, fundamental elements of sound, previously hidden and buried in all audio signals, can now be retrieved and reproduced.____________________________

*Some of those audiophiles might wrinkle their noses at the widespread use of push-on connectors and opamps inside the unit – Ed.